Tasmania Planning Tribunal accepts amended Mount Wellington cable car proposal

Hobart's kunanyi/Mount Wellington cable car amended proposal has today been accepted by Tasmania's planning tribunal with the company behind the controversial development - Mount Wellington Cable Car (MWCC) - having welcomed the news.

In July, Hobart City Council voted to reject the original development application after an independent planning report recommended it be refused on 21 grounds because it would diminish the tourism, recreational, cultural and landscape values of the mountain. A further nine reasons for refusal of the development were later added.

Two weeks later, MWCC lodged an appeal against Council's decision with the Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal (RMPAT), in line with Tasmania’s planning laws.

MWCC then lodged a further appeal in November with Chief Executive Chris Oldfield advising that the latest amendment to their Development Application was in a bid to alleviate a number of reasons for refusal by the Hobart City Council. MWCC were, at the time, confident these amendments would address additional formal issues raised by various parties to the Appeal.

MWCC have at no time owned any of the sites on which they plan to operate and are seeking/have sought lease agreements with land owners at the base and summit of Mount Wellington which is managed by the Wellington Park Management Trust – an agency of the Tasmanian Government.

The original proposal for the cable car included three towers and a base station in South Hobart, along with a restaurant, cafe and amphitheatre at the mountain's summit.

In the revised proposal, MWCC advised it would reduce the cableway's operation to daylight hours, reduce the number of passengers in each cabin, and remove plans for the restaurant.

The scaled back pinnacle centre retains its key features including protection of the skyline, accessible lookouts and boardwalks, an all-day café, community event space, sufficient toilets, and parenting rooms for all visitors to the pinnacle.

Oldfield said the centre also retains key environmental design features such as colours to blend in with the mountain environment, non-reflective and recessed windows, rooftop native gardens and low visibility lighting.

Today’s ruling sees the tribunal accepting the amended development proposal for consideration in the appeal based on its reduction in scale and intensity when compared to the original proposal.

The Tribunal commented "while it is unlikely that the changes would result in a resolution of the appeal, the tribunal is satisfied that the changes may address some of the grounds of appeal, and may narrow the issues in dispute between the parties. In the tribunal's view, an approval of the amendments proposed by the application results in a somewhat simpler development, which would result in a more-focused and abbreviated hearing.

"The tribunal is satisfied that the proposed changes do not produce a development so substantially different from the original application so as to constitute a new development."

Image top: Mount Wellington Cableway Company's concept for its cableway submitted as part of the 2018 version of the proposal; Image above - comparison of initial and revised development proposals courtesy MWCC